What is Sitecore?

mis à jour le 17-04-2023

Sitecore is a well-known DXP platform (Digital Experience Platform) that has experienced strong growth since its creation in 2001. Okay, but in concrete terms, what is Sitecore and why does it deserve a bit of attention? Let’s do some history to understand the company’s DNA, before focusing on its features and detailed offering, as well as the benefits it offers to marketing and technical teams.

Sitecore, from a simple CMS to an ultra complete DXP platform

Sitecore started as a CMS (Content Management System) in 2001. It was a content management system designed to help businesses manage their digital content. Sitecore quickly evolved into a more complete digital experience management platform, offering features for personalization, campaign management, e-commerce and customer data management.

Sitecore has since experienced a rapid growth as a DXP platform, becoming a multinational company with over 5,000 employees and more than 5,000 customers worldwide. It relies on an ecosystem of integrator partners in order to provide its solutions to companies. Castelis, gold partner Sitecore, is the first Sitecore integrator in France, with more than half of the French customer base.

In concrete terms, what is Sitecore?

Sitecore is a complete digital experience management platform that enables businesses to create personalized and engaging digital experiences for their customers. It offers solutions for personalization, campaign management, e-commerce and customer data management.

Sitecore is also a cloud native platform, which means it is designed to run on cloud environments such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services. This allows companies to quickly and easily deploy their platform and expand it as needed.

The Sitecore platform is built around three main products and solutions: Sitecore Experience Platform, Sitecore Experience Commerce and Sitecore Content Hub.

Sitecore Experience Platform is the core product of the platform and offers personalization, campaign management and customer data management functionalities.

Sitecore Experience Commerce is an e-commerce solution that fits perfectly with the Sitecore Experience Platform. It offers powerful e-commerce features such as product catalog management, order management and payment management.

Sitecore Content Hub is a digital resources and content management solution that enables companies to efficiently manage their digital content. It provides features for digital asset management, editorial planning management and digital supply chain management.

Sitecore’s products and solutions

Sitecore recently reorganized its products into three categories: Content Cloud, Engagement Cloud and Commerce Cloud.

Here is an overview of the new Sitecore product suite and its key features:

Content Cloud

Content Cloud is Sitecore’s content management solution. It allows marketing teams to easily create and manage content across multiple digital channels. Here are some of its key capabilities:

Flexible and evolving content management
Creation of personalized content based on user experience
Publication of content across multiple channels
Management of content translation
Analysis of content engagement and relevance
Optimization of content for search engine optimization (SEO)

Engagement Cloud

Engagement Cloud is Sitecore’s digital marketing solution. It enables marketing teams to deliver personalized and meaningful experiences to customers throughout their journey. Some of its key features include:

Tracking of visitor behavior on the website
Create personalized experiences in real time
Managing marketing campaigns
Analysis of campaign results
Personalization of emails based on user behavior
Targeting content based on user profile

Commerce Cloud

Commerce Cloud is Sitecore’s e-commerce solution. It enables businesses to provide personalized and transparent shopping experiences to customers. Some of its key features include:

Management of product catalogs
Personalization of product suggestions based on purchase history
Payment and tax support
Integration to third-party e-commerce solutions
Analysis of customer engagement throughout the buying process
Optimization of the purchase process for better conversion

Benefits for marketing and technical teams

In addition to these features, Sitecore also offers a complete DXP platform that enables marketing and technical teams to work together transparently and efficiently. Sitecore’s benefits for marketing teams include better visibility on campaign performances and better personalization of user experiences. Benefits for technical teams include a flexible and scalable platform that can be easily integrated with third-party systems.

Benefits of Sitecore for marketing teams

Advanced Personalization

Sitecore provides advanced personalization of the user experience based on the data collected about each visitor. This allows marketing teams to create targeted, personalized campaigns based on each visitor’s behavior on the website.

Optimization of the customer journey

Thanks to real-time analysis of visitor interactions, Sitecore helps optimize the customer journey on the website, from acquisition to conversion. This allows marketing teams to set specific conversion goals and set up actions to achieve them more effectively.

Unified Content Management

Sitecore provides a centralized content management platform that allows you to manage all types of content (text, images, videos, etc.) from a single interface. This improves collaboration between different departments within the company and ensures coherence in the content strategy.

Advanced Data Analysis

Sitecore includes advanced data analysis features that allow marketing teams to measure the efficiency of marketing campaigns in real-time. This allows marketing teams to adapt their strategies based on the results and constantly improve their return on investment.

Open and Modular Platform

Sitecore is an open, modular platform that simplify the integration of third-party tools in order to enhance the company’s digital marketing strategy. Marketing teams can use the tools of their choice and integrate them directly into the Sitecore platform.

Benefits for technical teams

Flexible and evolving platform

Sitecore is a flexible and evolving platform that adapts itself to the specific needs of each company. Technical teams can custom features using the tools and programming languages of their choice.

Simple to develop

With its API-based architecture and composable web approach, developers can easily integrate new features. This composable web approach allows technical teams to build modular and extensible websites with minimal development work, by creating components that can be reused in many projects.

Simple to deploy

Sitecore is easy to deploy, allowing technical teams to set up the platform quickly, without the need for advanced technical skills.

Simple to manage

Sitecore is easy to maintain, thanks to its intuitive interface and advanced content management tools. This allows technical teams to easily manage updates and fix bugs without the need for external experts.

Stronger Security

Sitecore includes advanced security features to protect corporate data and ensure the privacy of visitors. This allows technical teams to work safely without fear of cyber attacks.

High Quality Technical Support

Sitecore provides premium technical support, which allows technical teams to receive personalized assistance when needed.

In summary, Sitecore offers benefits for both marketing and technical teams. Marketing teams can benefit from an all-in-one platform to manage and optimize content, marketing campaigns and customer experiences. Technical teams, on the other hand, can profit from the flexibility, ease of development and personalization offered by Sitecore.